BEA Notes from BCSD Board Work Session
6pm Library 1-29-18
Concerned about financial situation- Marliss
Thank you all for coming
Greg- overall financial standing- not only next year but future years
Schools funding is based on enrollment- also based on state cost per pupil- we don’t have control over those- two main drivers- give us revenues
General fund
New money projections- next 5 years
2019- 94,425
2020- -789,805
2021- -111,843
2022- -119,707
2023- -543,231
State is not in a good financial position
State says to use 1%.
Lost 163 kids this year. Projection was 50.
Mechanism is in place to protect schools- 101% budget adjustment. Gives us a year to help us through the transition. This is only a one year thing. Following year they take it away.
Next year- 94,425 new monies.
78% of cost are people. On average cost increase is over 1 million for salary and benefits.
Enrollment is projected to decline over the next several years.
1.7 mil deficit in two years (hypothetical)
Continued declining enrollment for foreseeable future.
1st plan-
cabinet /support staff restructuring- 142,000
Reduce 5 elem office clerks 120,000
Reduce 5 elem computer lab assoc 75,000
Transitioinal kdg and assoc 70,000
Elementary specials .5 22,000
Retiree savings 60,000
Reduce 2 elem 110,000
Asst activities director 58,600
High School Extra duties 14,500
672,100 total cuts- results in 66,525 surplus- will help with future reductions
Alternates
Elementary Librarian 95,600
Middle School Computer Operators 40,000
Elem Restructuring (Closing a building)
Principal 115,000
10 Teaching positions 550,000
Secretary 20,000
Line Item Budgets reduce 5% 40,000
Reading Teachers-
Book Fees- increase registration fees
Custodians
860,000
Anticipated cost increases based on historical settlements- based on average settlements for last year- wage increase, medical
Medical costs- last year- wellmark gave 20%
Anticipate a significant cost increase this year - Wellmark is telling them it will be over 18%
District picked up 350k of insurance increase
Greg used same figure- increase would be passed on to us
Marliss- why isn’t this a million?
Greg- cost increases average around a million- regular program- not including cat funds- like title, spec ed
This is just regular program costs
Marliss- sooner or later we will have more questions
Greg- open to board questions
Marliss- would like details of each thing listed
No more low hanging fruit- what is being considered with each
What would class size be if we lose 2 elem, so on
Class sizes- not any diff than we look at any year
Making adjustments as normal
Coen- Cabinet- director of special services cut- 142,000
Wouldn’t need as much support staff
5 clerks- 1 from each elem
TK- when a child is not performing where they can enter kdg- attempt to get them ready for 1st grade
Force all kids into reg kdg
WB has a TK- Coen added it to keep kids in our district- we have 10 in this year- class sizes would be adjusted
Elem specials- more people traveling
Reducing 2 elem teachers- grimes running at 2 next year- corse running at 50% capacity- some realigning there
Assoc Athletic Director- law didn’t pass that- MS principals and Assoc principals would pick up more duties
Extra Duties at HS- Dept chair of small departments
What are we gonna do with realigning ? dean asked
Coen says have saved 100k to 200k
That’s not up here- it’s not a reduction- its a restructiuring
Roberts- reducing special services- who gives teachers sign off etc.- many diff disabilities- who will be in charge of each school?
Coen- all principals have to take that training- as of right now- Spec Services doesn’t go to all IEP meetings
Disagreements would end up in Coen’s lap- Coen says AEA would get it- Stringer
Robberts likes having this position- wants responsibilities lined up
Reducing 5 elem office clerks- Robberts doesn’t like this- she knows how much work they do
Hostile parents are a problem- calls in the morning- very hesitant to do that
Need to have someone who knows the little things- who to call- we don’t want a kid picked up by the wrong person- causes her grave concern
Vickstrom- diabetics- who will give innoculations- clerks are trained- he’s concerned about health issue
Hatteberg- don’t even consider this- we get double or triple our money out of them
Brueck- computer lab associates- DEntlinger- labs are converted to 21st century rooms- makerspaces
Don’t have labs in elem anymore- these staff are out in building doing other work
Bross- looking at alternatives- restructuring an elem- have we looked at grade alike in elem and or middle school
Coen- we have had discussions- one option- close corse- bump remaining schools up to higher level of performance- 80 or 90% capacity
Closing admin building and moving to corse
Corse becoming a daycare center
1 MS becoming 5-6 one becoming 7-8
New tech high at a ms or at the hs
Everything is on the table- what the board feels is the best option
Setttng ourselves up for the future- losing 70 kids a year- moving away
1980 3.8 kids per fam
Average age in btown is 39
Aged population
Many fewer kids
As community gets smaller- it’s 20% smaller than it was in 1980
Robberts- public doesn’t like idea of grade alike schools- would bring additional flight- has heard often from people- if the rest of board wants to consider- Robberts is against it
Cash reserves- Greg- under 20%- little over 9 mil- 2 mil of that is categorical
Dist has roughly 19 mil in unspent balance
If we take 150 or 200k from cash reserves- how will that affect solvency
Certain things not in our interest to cut- maintaining office clerks- MS principals having spare time- saving Asst activites director
Principals and secretaries are busy
Reducing 2 elem teachers- if numbers justify it for class sizes- we usually have enough turn over won’t need to cut people (we might)
Elem specials
Unspent cash- greg- there to protect district- never use for recurring expenditures- have to be careful- once you do, those expenditures start to snowball- it sets you up to spend more each year- use extreme caution
Marliss- i do understand that
Greg- average settlements- insurance based on covering health insurance- 20 or 25% increase- that’s over a million
Dist will cover 350k and employee will pick up the rest
Kendell- we’ve already made the easier choices- none are appealing
Kendell- asst activities director- our activities director is head football coach- what’s going to happen without that person
Don’t like idea of office clerks
Not in favor of that one
Hesitant to look at computer jobs- wants teachers and staff to still work with the chromebooks
Hopes elem staff works itself out
Elem restructuring would be closing corse? Could be any of them (coen)
How many elem librarians do we currently have? 2- would only have 1.
Running about 75% or 80 at BH
Corse NH and Grimes will all be 2 section buildings
Corse has special programming
Brueck- doesn’t sound like we’re at capacity with any of our buildings
Coen- people in town don’t think it will be good-
Bross- wouldn’t this be on the table for next year
Hatteberg- instead of grade alike just have one less building
Kendell- if we drop an elem librarian, how do we make up for it?
Coen- when he was a MS principal, he managed sports- it can be done
Done 3 years ahead for scheduling
Head principal and assoc divy up activities- gives you an opportunity to see kids in a different light
You don’t go home at 4 pm
Hatteberg- sees a lot of elem cuts- why no high school?
Coen- main reason for that is secondary positions require certain licensure- we have to have people with those licenses
Can control class size differently
Coen- last year hs did have majority of cuts
Hatteberg- seems lopsided this year
Vickstrom- what is the reserve there for? Can’t we tap that without financial difficulties
Greg- it is there- we have less cash than we do spending authority- we need to keep some balance there. Every 3 or 4 years the state cuts. Need to maintain some cash on hand. Greg- it’s at the board disgression- you’re delaying the inevitable- Dean- I can run numbers
we pulled some last year
Right now is too late to close an elem for next year- gonna have to look at for 2019-2020 school year
Wants input- want to give parents notice- don’t think feasible by august
Coen- how do we find something good in this challenge- Corse will be left open- could we begin a process of taking 3 years old and share with privatization- families with young people- might not make any- could start developing resources within our community to benefit families
Robberts- cabinet restructuring- many 3A schools don’t have one- realistically, she’s resigned to it. District can absorb it.
Can’t absorb elem clerks. They serve our students.
If there aren’t computer labs, can live with that
TK- if only 10 kids, that seems like a high cost for 10 students
Preschool for half a day and TK for half a day
Chris Richards left at this point.
Hesitant at asst athletics director
Everything else she’s ok with- dipping in cash reserves if need to
Bross- concern is that what we have to do for following year taken into account. Need to have those conversations starting this year. Feels really bad to have a hit on the elementaries. We may see some of our lack of growth at lower areas. They leave us before they get to us- we’re not helping ourselves down the road.
People need to know it’s going to be worse next year.
Kendell- driver for all of this is enrollment- stop sending your kids elsewhere- plea for emails- didn’t get any emails from anyone who explained why people do that.
5 students- 30k. Buying into rhetoric and rumors- people don’t give elem schools a chance. They’ve already made up their mind. Our schools are among the kids in the state.
Courtney- reasons sports, don’t like the hs. We need to have people keep our kids there. Everything is important. Are we at our taxing authority?
Greg- majority is driven by state formula- there isn’t a lot of things the board can do to impact our spending authority- 20% is most we can carry- we’re at 19.8%
Taxing authority driven by state formula.
We are taking advantage of all of those things.
We can’t increase our taxing.
Cash reserves just puts cash in the bank.
Robberts- we can take 200k from cash reserves.
We don’t have negative unspent balance.
It’s important we have a healthy cash reserve. Don’t want them to be recurring expenses.
Don’t like any of them, but can’t support office clerks.
Courtney- what percent are we cutting?
Would an accross the board cut work better
Coen- 78% fund- wages and benefits- we can’t have teachers take an across the board
We can’t take that away from our teachers-
Courtney meant taking 1 away from each thing.
Hatteberg- do we all agree to keep office clerks- it’s not a vote- then we have to come up with that money some way.
Robberts says take from cash reserves.
We have a high percentage in cash reserves.
Each office needs those 2 people in the office.
Robberts can live with everything on list except for office clerks.
Kendell concurs that office clerks should be spared.
Courtney- TK should be as important as sec
Vickstrom- no admin staff up there
Director of special services is up there
Plus 58 from asst athletic director
Hatteberg- we pumped salary up because we thought we had to- maybe we could have another job created. This job has to have a masters as written.
Robberts- we had a glorified clerk in that position before
We still have that person there, too.
Coen- Keane combined money and ath clerk
Brueck- confused about the process-
Coen- this list will be worked on- come up with a draft motion for next board meeting
Robberts rules of order takes place
This is a feedback and general guidance.
2 week period before next meeting- maybe put out agenda a week early so board could get feedback
Board may be missing something on the list that needs input.
Bross- discussion negative comments about grade alike- a positive comment from a teacher- if there are others, please let us know
Robberts- we need feedback on any others.- we are 4A by 22 kids
75% of schools in iowa losing enrollment- elem specials- which one is it? Art.
Kendell- could staff come up with ideas? Coen- I’ve already done this. Low hanging fruit is gone. Have some of these ideas come from round tables? Coen- yes.
As we think again- 3 A schools don’t have 2 ADs, not as big of a board.
Coen- board meeting courtney- why is this happening? Coen dove into it- it’s mind boggling- we would have 200 more kids kdg. Open enrollment isn’t what’s strangling burlington- it’s our aging population
Low wage state- kids move out.
Coen- free and reduced is 70% in some buildings.
Working poor has left.
170 kids we lost moved away. That’s what we’re finding.
Working poor has decreased- free number
Free and reduced is about 64% district wide
Only 9 districts are poorer than we are.
Nobody is buying houses.
Robberts- cyclical problem beyond our scope. Given some guidance.
Robberts- set a public hearing time for next year to determine which building and such.
Robberts encourages feedback.
